Economics of Human Capital in India

Abstract

Economics of human capital as an area of research is at least five decades old, T.W. Schultz inaugurated it in 1960. Concentrating on Economics of Education in India, this chapter presents review of the research that has grown multifold during the last five decades, giving a rich flavour of the growth of Economics of Education and describing the contribution to Economics of Education to better understanding of several socioeconomic phenomena and also the weaknesses that continue to haunt the area. Besides, showing that Mark Blaug was wrong, when he observed in mid-1980s that economics of education now lies dead, it gives a brief summary of results of various research studies on economic aspects of education in India.

Notes

Acknowledgements

Key-note Address delivered in the 89th Annual Conference of the Indian Economics Association, Kurukshetra University, 27–29 December 2006. The author is grateful to K.C. Reddy for the encouragement and comments on the address.

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